Harry and Friends Read The Lightning Thief
by Hoff of Slytherin
Summary: Formerly slytherinchristiangirl. Harry and friends are called to Dumbledore's office where they read the adventures of Percy Jackson. Little do they know that they will be attending the camp to fight in the Final battle of the Gods.
1. Prologue

**Hey guys hope you like this new fic. Read and review, please it's my first crossover. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. Nor do I own any later bold writings in the story. That belongs to Rick Riordan.**

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Prologue

It was a fine spring day in fifth year and Harry Potter was enjoying a nice day outside with his two best friends, Ron and Hermione. Apparently Ron and Hermione have been arguing over how televisions work the whole time.

"Ron, it's very simple. You just turn on the tele and you find the channel you want to watch by pushing the up and down arrows and when you find something you like, just stay on the channel…"

They have been at this for almost an hour when some first year came running down to the tree that they were sitting under. He had a frightened look on his face because he must be scared of upperclassmen.

The boy held out a letter. He stammered, "I-I'm S-supposed t-to g-g-give this to H-harry Potter."

Hermione took the note, then said in a kind voice, "What did he ask you to tell us?"

"Um, he said to meet you in his office immediately. It's an emergency." Then the kid ran off to the Entrance Hall.

"What do you think Dumbledore wants, mate?" Ron asked Harry.

"Dunno. But, with Dumbledore you never know. Come on, guys."

With that, the three Gryffindors went up to the sixth floor to Dumbledore's office. As they reached the Gargoyle, they didn't know the password.

"Hermione, what's the password?" Ron asked.

"Well he usually puts it on the bottom of his letters, so let's just read the bloody thing.

Hermione opened the letter and read it aloud. It said:

_Harry, Ron, and Hermione_

_I hope I didn't disturb anything important, because I had an urgent letter from a friend in America saying that he needs some Wizarding students to fight in a battle that will be coming up in a few months. I have selected a few students from each House that will accompany you on this journey. _

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster._

_PS: I greatly enjoy lemon drops_

"Guys," Harry said, "The password is lemon drops."

"What is up with that man and his candy obsession?" Hermione said to almost no one in particular.

She faced the gargoyle and said loudly, "Lemon drop." The gargoyle turned and revealed a staircase. The three teenagers each stood on a step and in no time at all, they were at the door to Dumbledore's office.

Hermione knocked on the door. A nice loud, "Come in." was heard through the door. Hermione opened the door, and she, Harry and Ron saw a few selected students from every House, including Slytherin. Harry on the other hand, was not happy about Dumbledore's Slytherin choice because they consisted of the four people he hated most.

"Well, if it isn't the Dream Team, Potty, Weasel, and the Mudblood." Malfoy said coldly.

"Call her that again, Malfoy-" Ron started.

"Students, please." Dumbledore interrupted. "Now, the reason I have called you all here is because there is a friend of mine who needs your help. You all know the stories of the Ancient Greeks?"

Some students nodded, others said, "Yes sir."

"As I was saying, in the stories the Greek gods had children with mortal and they were either called Heroes, Half- Bloods, or the true term for it is called Demigods. Believe it or not, these stories are not myths they're real. And the gods have set up a summer training camp for them. In the near future, there will be a big battle against the gods and the titans and one child of the Big Three gods will make a decision that will either save or destroy Mount Olympus.

What I have called you all here for today is to learn about these heroes before you go to the camp that is located in America." Dumbledore pulled out a box that consisted of five books. The series was called "Percy Jackson and the Olympians."

"Oh my Lord new books!" Hermione screamed.

"These books will tell you everything you need to know about the demigods you are going to meet. So, I will leave you to it."

With that, Dumbledore was gone in a flash, leaving the sixteen students alone with five books in a case.

Hermione was the first to speak. "Well, that was odd."

"Yeah," Harry said. "Let's get reading so we can get out of here."

"For once I agree with Potty." Malfoy said. "We have better things to do, Right boys?" He looked over at Crabbe and Goyle, who were nodding their heads.

"Okay, so who wants to read the first book…" Ron picked up the first book. "This is called 'The Lightning Thief'"

"Oh, sounds cool. I'll read it." Hermione said.

"Wait," Ginny said out of nowhere. "Dumbledore said that these books are American. Wouldn't it make more sense if someone read them in an American Accent?"

"I agree with Ginny's idea." Ernie Macmillan from Hufflepuff said. "Who has the best American Accent in here?"

"I think everyone should say something in American," Hannah Abbot, another Hufflepuff student said. "Then we could decide who should start off reading."

Everyone agreed to this idea and said something in an American accent. Everyone had great ones, so they were fighting over who should read first.

Malfoy couldn't take it any longer. So he said, "All right, give me the bloody book." He snatched the book out of Hermione's hand and said in his brilliant American Accent, "Chapter 1…."

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**So, how did you like that? Should I continue? Review, please!(does really cute puppy face)**


	2. I Accidentally Vaporize my Pre Algebra T

**Wow, 8 reviews in 2 days. That's a new record for me. Keep it up guys. I hope you like this chapter. I was up till 2 am writing this!**

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**Chapter 1: I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre- Algebra Teacher**

Malfoy snatched the book out of Hermione's hands and began to read, "Chapter 1: '**I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre- Algebra Teacher'**"

"What's pre- algebra, Hermione?" Ron asked.

"It's a type of Muggle Mathematics, Ronald." Hermione pointed out.

"Oh."

Malfoy continued to read in his American accent:

"**Look, I didn't want to be a Half- Blood**."

"Malfoy, you're a half- blood?" Ernie Macmillan said in mock terror. "All this time I thought you were Pureblood."

"Shut up, Snifflepuff." Malfoy snapped. "The character in the book's a half blood, not me."

"Oh, sorry," Ernie said sarcastically.

Malfoy continued reading. "**If** **you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is close this book right now.**"

"Okay, then," Malfoy closed the book.

"Draco Malfoy, open that book right now and keep reading." Hermione scolded him.

"Whatever." Malfoy sighed and opened the book back up and continued.

"**Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life**. **Being a Half- Blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways."**

"Like what?" Luna Lovegood asked.

"Well, let's find out, Loony." Malfoy said.

"Don't call her that, Malfoy!" Ginny yelled.

Malfoy continued, "**If you're a normal kid reading this because it's fiction, great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**"

"Well, we are not normal kids, and we know this happened because Dumbledore told us." Harry stated.

"**But if you recognize yourself in these pages- if you feel something stirring inside – stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before **_**they **_**sense it, too, and they'll come for you.**"

"Who's they?" Luna wondered.

"Possibly bad guys, I'm sure." Harry said.

"**Don't say I didn't warn you**."

"That doesn't sound good," Cho Chang said worriedly.

"**My name is Percy Jackson.**"

"No, your name is Draco Malfoy, the Amazing Bouncing Ferret Boy." Ron commented.

Every student in the office laughed at this for five minutes, while Malfoy's face went brick red.

"**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York. Am I a troubled kid?**"

"Yep," Ginny said. Everyone started laughing.

"**Yeah, you could say that.**"

"At least Percy admits it," Hermione said.

"Yeah," Ron agreed. Most kids like to pretend they are sweet little angles."

"**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things started to go really bad last May, when our sixth- grade class went to Manhattan- twenty eight mental case kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus heading to the Metropolitan Museum of art to look at Ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**"

Hermione had just remembered the time when she was nine and her parents took her to that museum before. She had enjoyed it greatly, but what could be so bad about it for Percy?

"**I know- it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were."**

"**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading the trip, so I had hopes. Mr. Brunner was this middle aged guy in a motorized wheelchair.**"

"Oh poor guy," Hannah said sympathetically. "Wonder what happened?"

"**He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee.**"

"Bleagh, what a nice description." Harry commented.

"**You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher who's class didn't put me to sleep.**"

"Never mind, he sounds like a cool guy." Harry corrected himself.

"**I hoped this trip would be okay. At least I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble. Boy was I wrong.**"

"What does he mean by that," Terry Boot from Ravenclaw asked.

"It means that something bad happened." Hermione said.

"**See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my fifth grade school when we went to the Saratoga Battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon. I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course, I got expelled anyway. And before that, at my fourth grade school, when we took a behind- the – scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk, and our class took an unplanned swim. And the time before that… well you get the idea.**"

"Oh great Merlin, this kid is trouble." Cho said.

"We don't know that for sure," Ernie said. "He could turn out to be a good one."

"**This trip, I was determined to be good.**"

"See," Ernie said.

"**All the way into the city I had to put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl hitting my best friend, Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut-butter and ketchup sandwich.**"

"Hey, Weasley I see you have a long lost sibling." Malfoy mocked.  
"Oh, shut up!" Ron yelled. "If my mum had another kid, she would tell us!"

"Oh, sore spot." Ernie said in Hannah's ear.

"I heard that, Macmillan!" Ron said.

"A peanut butter and ketchup sandwich. Now that sounds disgusting!" Cho said.

"**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he got frustrated.**"

Harry was laughing at this.

"**He must have been held back several grades because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled.**"

"Aw," Hermione cooed.

"**He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life, because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs.**"

"Aw," Hermione cooed again.

"**He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**"

The students were dying of laughter for more than two minutes.

"**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly- brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with in- school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**"

"Well, that's no fun," Ron said.

"**'I'm going to kill her,' I mumbled.**"

"**Grover tried to calm me down, 'It's okay. I like peanut butter.'**"

"Well, at least he likes it," Hannah said.

"**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**"

"**'That's it.' I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**"

"**'You're already on probation,' he reminded me. 'You know who'll get blamed if anything happens.'**"

"**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In- school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**"

"**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**"

"**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black and orange pottery.**"

"I have never understood why Greek pottery was made that way." Ginny said to herself.

"**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**"

"**He gathered us around a thirteen foot tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a **_**stele **_**for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everyone around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**"

"Don't worry, Percy it happens to me all the time." Hermione said.

"Since when," Malfoy remarked coldly.

"Shut up, Ferret Boy." Hermione scolded.

"**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker.**"

"Uh, Hermione, what's a Harley?" Ron asked.

"Harley is short for Harley Davidson, a motorbike company in America." Hermione answered.

"Oh," Ron said.

"**She had come to Yancy halfway through the year when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**"

"**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit, and figured I was the devil spawn. She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after school detention for a month.**"

"Hey, at least you didn't have to clean the trophies in the trophy room." Ron said while rubbing his arm remembering that time back in second year.

"**One time after she'd made me erase answers out old math workbooks, until midnight, I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right.**"

"Oh, this is not good," Ginny said.

"**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**"

"**Finally, Nancy Bobofit said something about the naked guy on the stele and I turned around and said, "Will you **_**shut up?**_**" That came out louder than it meant to.**"

"**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story. "Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?**"

"**My face was totally red. I said, 'No, sir.'**"

"**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. 'Perhaps you might be able to tell us what this picture represents?'**"

"**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?'**"

"Why would someone want to eat their kids?" Luna asked.

"It's part of the myth, Luna." Cho answered.

"**'Yes,' Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because…'**"

"**'Well…' I racked my brain, trying to remember. 'Kronos was the king god, and-'**"

"'**God?'" Mr. Brunner asked**.

"**'Titan,' I corrected myself. 'And… he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when baby Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos into barfing up his brothers and sisters-'**"

"**'Eeew!' said one off the girls behind me.'**"

The students were in hysterics.

"**'-and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans' I continued, 'and the gods won.'**"

"**Some snickers from the group.**"

"**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, 'Like we are going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, "Please explain why Kronos ate his kids?"'**"

"**'And why, Mr. Jackson,' Mr. Brunner said, 'to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?'**"

"Somebody's in trouble," Ron said like a first year.

"**'Busted,'" Grover muttered."**

**"'Shut up,' Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair."**

**"At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**

"Just like McGonagall," Harry said. The students were laughing again.

"**I thought about his question, and shrugged. 'I don't know, sir.'**"

"**'I see.' Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. 'Well, half- credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach.**'"

"Gross," Hannah said, with a disgusted look on her face.

"**'The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead back outside?'**"

"**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**"

"**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, 'Mr. Jackson?'**"

"**I knew that was coming.**"

"**I told Grover to keep going. Then, I turned around toward Mr. Brunner. 'Sir?'**"

"**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go- intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**"

"**'You must learn the answer to my question,' Mr. Brunner told me.'**"

"**'About the Titans?'**"

"**'About real life. And how your studies apply to it.'**"

"**'Oh.'**"

"**'What you will learn from me,' he said 'is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.'**"

"**I wanted to get angry; this guy pushed me so hard.**"

"**I mean, sure it was kind of cool on tournament days when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: 'what, ho!' and challenged us, sword point against chalk, to run up to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**"

"Now that sounds like fun." Harry said excitedly.

"**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention- deflects- hyperactivity disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life.**"

"Aww…" Hermione and Ginny cooed at the same time.

"**No- he didn't expect me to be **_**as good**_**; he expected me to be **_**better**_**. And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spelt them correctly.**"

"**I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long, sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral. He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**"

"I would rather do that," Ron said.

"**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue. Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in."**

**"Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse,"**

"I found a friend for the twins," Ron said.

**"and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing."**

**"Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that everybody wouldn't know we were from **_**that **_**school- the school for looser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere."**

**"'Detention?' Grover asked"**

**"'Nah,' I said. 'Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean- I'm not a genius.'"**

**"Grover didn't say anything for awhile. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, 'Can I have your apple?'" **

Everyone started laughing, because that reminded them of Crabbe and Goyle.

**"I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it."**

**"I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump into a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years, and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand the look she'd give me."**

"Six schools in six years," Hermione said. "Wow."

"**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized café table.**"

"**I was about to unwrap my sandwich, when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends- I guess she'd got tired of stealing from the tourists- and dumped her half- eaten sandwich in Grover's lap.**"

"**'Oops,' she grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray- painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**"

"**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, 'Count to ten, get control of your temper.' But I was so mad, my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**"

"A wave," Luna asked.

"You don't think?" Ron looked at Harry.

"I think so." Harry said.

"**I don't remember toughing her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, 'Percy pushed me!'**"

There were a few chuckles from the students.

"**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us. Some of the kids were whispering, 'Did you see-'**"

"**'-The water-'**"

"**'-Like, it grabbed her-'**"

"**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again.**"

"**As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum's gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester. 'Now, honey-**'"

"Oh, great Merlin, kid DO SOMETHING!" Ernie yelled.

"**'I know,' I grumbled. 'A month erasing workbooks.'**"

"**That wasn't the right thing to say.**"

"**'Come with me,' Mrs. Dodds said.**"

"**'Wait!' Grover yelped. 'It was me. **_**I**_** pushed her.'**"

"**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**"

"**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled. 'I don't think so, Mr. Underwood.'**"

"**'But-'**"

"**'You- **_**will-**_** stay- here.'** **Grover looked at me desperately.**"

"**'It's okay, man,' I told him. 'Thanks for trying.'**"

"**'Honey,' Mrs. Dodds barked at me. '**_**Now**_**!'**" **Nancy Bobofit smirked.**

**"I gave her my deluxe I'll- kill- you- later stare. Then, I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on. How did she get there so fast?"**

"Now that is cool," Malfoy said after a while. He was getting tired of reading.

"**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me it was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things. I wasn't so sure. I went after Mrs. Dodds.**"

"**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he Wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but Mr. Brunner was absorbed in his novel.** "

"**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the entrance hall. Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop. But apparently that wasn't the plan.**"

"**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up with her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section. Except for us, the gallery was empty.**"

"**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling. Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it.**"

"Well, do it then, woman!" Harry said.

"**'You've been giving us problems, honey,' she said. I did the safe thing. I said, 'Yes, ma'am.'**"

"**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. 'Did you really think you would get away with it?'**"

"**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me. I said, 'I'll- I'll try harder, ma'am.'Thunder shook the building.**"

"At least he's going to try," Hermione said.

"**'We are not fools, Percy Jackson,' Mrs. Dodds said. 'It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you'll suffer less pain.' I didn't know what she was talking about.**"

"**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been stealing out of my dorm room. Or maybe they'd realize I got my essay of **_**Tom Sawyer**_** from the Internet without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**"

"Oh, come on it's not that bad," Hermione insisted.

"**'Well?' She demanded**.** 'Ma'am, I don't…'**"

"**'Your time is up,' she hissed.**"

"**Then, the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons. Things got even stranger.**"

Luna was whimpering in the corner of the office.

"**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**"

"Bloody hell." Ron said.

"**'What ho, Percy!' he shouted, and tossed me the pen through the air.** **Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**"

"**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword- Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day. Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look on her face.**"

"**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword. She snarled, 'Die, honey!' And she flew straight at me. Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword. The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. **_**Hissss!"**_

"Oh dear," Cho said worriedly.

"**Mrs. Dodds was a sandcastle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and the chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me. I was alone. There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**"

"This kid is so paranoid," Ginny said.

"**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me. My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something. Had I imagined the whole thing? I went back outside. It had started to rain.**"

"Someone's under the weather," Malfoy remarked.

'Shut up," Ron said

"**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me she said, 'I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt.'**"

"**I said, 'Who?'**"

"'**Our **_**teacher.**_** Duh!'**"

"**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about. She just rolled her eyes and turned away. I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**"

"**He said, 'Who?'**"

"**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**"

"'**Not funny, man,' I told him. 'This is serious.' Thunder boomed overhead.**"

"**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he never moved. I went over to him. He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson.'**"

"**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**"

"'**Sir,' I said, 'where's Mrs. Dodds?'**"

"**He stared at me blankly. 'Who?'**"

"'**The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre- algebra teacher.'**"

"**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. 'Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?'**"

"Finally, I'm done!" Malfoy stretched and said, "Who's next?"

"I'll do it," Cho volunteered. She went over to where Malfoy was sitting and took the book from his hands. She started to read in her normal accent, "Chapter 2…"

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**I hope you guys liked it. If you did, review please!**


	3. Three old ladies knit the socks of death

**Hey, guys. Sorry i haven't updated in a while. This chapter took me like three days to write, because i've been so bloody busy. I hope you like it. enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: anything in bold is not mine. And i don't own Harry Potter. Shame, shame.**

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"**Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death**," Cho read.

"Wonder what that means," Ernie said.

"I have no idea on that one, mate," Ron commented.

"**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twenty four/ seven hallucination was more than I could handle.**"

"Oh gods," Elaina Troy from Slytherin said. She knew Percy because she was his best mate. If they found out she was a daughter of Apollo, Elaina would go ballistic. No one but Draco knew. What if the story mentioned her? Elaina decided that she would tell them after they finished the book.

"What, Troy?" Harry asked her.

"Nothing Potter," she snapped. "Mind your business."

"**For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr- a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip- had been our pre- algebra teacher since Christmas.**"

"It's just the Mist," Elaina said under her breath.

"The what," Hannah asked.

The beautiful blonde Slytherin looked at the Hufflepuff and said, "I think it will explain in the book later on. I don't want to spoil everything."

Draco Malfoy knew about his best friend's parentage, so he knew what was going on, but decided not to say anything. Harry on the other hand was quite wondrous with questions. So he asked her, "Why do you seem as if you know what happened?"

Elaina stayed quiet then told Cho to keep on reading.

"**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but would stare at me as if I was psycho.** "

A few students chuckled.

"**It got so I almost believed them- Mrs. Dodds had never existed. Almost. But Grover couldn't fool me.**"

He can't fool anyone, Elaina thought, not even Chiron.

"**When I mentioned the name Mrs. Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**"

"Someone needs some lying lessons," Malfoy said. Everyone laughed.

"Obviously," Ernie agreed.

"**Something was going on. Something **_**had**_** happened at the museum. I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**"

"Now that is scary," Elaina commented. She remembered her first encounter with a fury and it was not fun.

"**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy.**"

Elaina tensed up and growled madly at the book and everyone looked at her like she was mad. _Daddy,_ she thought angrily.

"What?" she asked.

"**One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year. I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time.**"

"Aw," Hannah said.

"**My grades slipped from D's to F's. I got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into hallway in almost every class.**"

"Oh dear," Ginny said.

"**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll asked me for the millionth time why I didn't study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good."**

That got the students laughing.

"**The headmaster had sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**"

"Next time you should think before you say things," Hermione scolded.

"Granger, you're talking to a book," Malfoy pointed out.

"Who cares," she snapped.

"**Fine, I told myself, just fine. I was homesick. I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**"

"Poker, I want to play," said Ron.

"YOU- ARE- A- PREFECT!" Hermione shouted. Everybody burst out laughing at Hermione's red face.

"**And yet, there would be things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods outside my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover who'd been a good friend even if he was a little strange. I worried how he would survive next year without me. I'd miss Latin class, too- Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**"

"Maybe fate will let you see your friends again in the future," said Ginny.

"I hope so," Luna agreed.

"**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life- and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**"

"Well, that's good," Ernie said.

"**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the **_**Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology **_**across my dorm room.**"

"How dare you treat a book like that!" Hermione cried at the book.

"**Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the letters doing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards. There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces.**"

"Chiron's the centaur and Charon is the guard to the Underworld. It's simple," Elaina said matter-of-factly.

"If you don't understand Greek Mythology, it's not," Hermione said to her.

"**And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it. I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt. I took a deep breath. I picked up the Mythology book.**"

"What is he going to do, Elaina," asked Luna.

Elaina tensed up again, then said, "Just listen,"

"**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried."**

**"**Good, he's going for help," Hermione praised.

"**I walked downstairs to the faculty office. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, lights from his window stretching across the hallway floor. I was three steps away from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said, '…worried about Percy, sir.' I froze.**"

"**I'm not usually the eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult. I inched closer.**"

"If that happened at Hogwarts, you'd be in a load of trouble," Ernie declared.

"Yeah," Cho agreed. "The professor or prefect will be like, 'Ten points from Slytherin or something.' And then would tell you to get back to your common room."

"**'…alone this summer,'" Grover was saying. 'I mean a Kindly one in the **_**school!**_** Now that we know for sure, and **_**they**_** know too-'**"

"**'We would only make matters worse by rushing him,' Mr. Brunner said. 'We need the boy to mature more.'**"

"**'But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline-'**"

"Summer solstice, huh," Harry said after a while. "What happens on the summer solstice?"

Elaina really wanted to answer all their questions, she was really tempted to answer, but just kept quiet until it was the right time to tell everyone.

"**'Will** **have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can.'**"

"Yeah, Percy just enjoy it while you can," Elaina commented.

"You really seem as if you know have experienced this type of thing, Troy," Ginny said. "What's going on?"

"I'll tell you later," Elaina said, really irritated.

"**'Sir, he **_**saw**_** her…'**"

"**'His imagination,' Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that.'**"

"I don't know about that," Elaina said.

"**'Sir, I… I can't fail my duties again.' Grover's voice was choked with emotion. 'You know what that would mean.'**"

"**'You haven't failed Grover,' Mr. Brunner said kindly. 'I should have her for what she was. Now just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall-'**"

"**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud. Mr. Brunner went silent. My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**"

"Oh good, he's not in trouble," Hannah breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Get out of there, Percy!" Malfoy yelled at the book.

"**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow. I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**"

"Broom cupboard?" Luna wondered.

"Possibly," Ginny said.

"**A few seconds later I heard a slow **_**clip-clop-clop,**_** like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on. A bead of sweat tricked down my neck.**"

"**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. 'Nothing,' he murmured. 'My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice.'**"

"**'Mine, neither,' Grover said. 'But I could have sworn…'**"

"**'Go back to the dorm,' Mr. Brunner told him. 'You've got a long day of exams tomorrow.'**"

"**'Don't remind me,'** **The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office. I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**"

"I hate that feeling," said Ernie.

"Join the club, mate," Ron said as the two high fived.

"**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back to the dorm. Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes, like he'd been there all night.**"

"Now that is creepy," Harry said.

"**'Hey,' he said, bleary- eyed. 'You going to be ready for this test?' I didn't answer.**"

"**'You look awful.' He frowned. 'Is everything okay?'**"

"**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed. I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe that I'd imagined the whole thing. But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**"

"What kind of danger," Luna asked

"Maybe it's death related," Hermione said sympathetically.

"I don't think so," Ginny reassured her.

"**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three- hour Latin exam, my eyes started swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled, Mr. Brunner called me back inside. For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**"

"**'Percy,' he said. 'Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's… it's for the best.'**"

"**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me. Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could still hear. Nancy Bobofit-**"

"Oh no, not her again," Ron complained.

"Shut up, Weasel," Malfoy hissed.

"**-smirked at me and made a sarcastic little kissing motion with her lips.**"

All the students were laughing.

"**I mumbled, 'Okay, sir.'**"

"**'I mean…' Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say. 'This isn't the right place for you. It's only a matter of time.' My eyes stung.**"

"**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**"

"**'Right,' I said trembling.**"

"**'No, no,' Mr. Brunner said. 'Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say… you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be-'**"

"**'Thanks,' I blurted. 'Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.'**"

"Now that was rude," Padma Patil from Ravenclaw spat out.

"I know, right," Cho agreed.

"**'Percy-' But I was already gone.**"

"**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase. The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was crazing the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were **_**rich **_**juvenile delinquents.**"

"Kind of like Malfoy over there," Ernie joked. The Gryffindors hid their laughter in their sleeves.

"Shut- up, Macmillan or I'll hex you into next year." Malfoy said coldly.

"**Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. I was a nobody from a family of nobodies. They asked me what I was doing this summer and I told them I was going back into the city. What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**"

"Aww," Luna said.

"**'Oh,' one of the guys said. 'That's cool.' They went back to their conversation, as if I'd never existed.**"

"**The only person I dreaded saying good- bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**"

"See, Percy you do have a friend after all," Luna said in her usual dreamy voice.

"I could see that Grover kid in Hufflepuff with us," Hannah thought out loud. "Don't you think so?" She said to Ernie.

"Oh yeah," He answered. "He's quite loyal."

"**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.** **Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore.**"

"**I said, 'Looking for Kindly Ones?'**"

Elaina shivered at the words Kindly ones. Those things scared the Hades out of her.

"**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. 'What- what do you mean?'**"

"**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam. Grover's eyes twitched. 'How much did you hear?'**"

"**'Oh… not much. What's the summer solstice deadline?'**"

_The council between the gods, including Uncle Hades_, Elaina thought.

"**He winced. 'Look, Percy… I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers…'**"

"**'Grover-'**"

"'**And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and…'**"

"**'Grover, you're a really, really bad liar.'**"

Elaina started giggling.

"**His ears turned pink. From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. 'Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.' The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**"

**Grover Underwood**

**Keeper**

**Half- Blood Hill**

**Long Island, New York**

**(800) 009-0009**

"What a very odd telephone number," Hermione commented.

"I know," Elaina agreed.

"**'What's Half-'**"

"**'Don't** **say it aloud!' he yelped. 'That's my, um… summer address.'**"

"**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**"

"**'Okay,' I said glumly. 'So, like if I want to come visit your mansion.'**"

"**He nodded. 'Or…or if you need me.'**"

"**'Why would I need you?' it came out harsher than I meant it to.**"

"How rude," Hannah shouted

"**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. 'Look, Percy, the truth is, I- I kind of have to protect you.' I stared at him.**"

"**All year long, I'd gotten into fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd gotten beat up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended **_**me. **_**'Grover,' I said, 'What exactly are you protecting me from?'**"

_Monsters, you idiot!_ Elaina thought.

"**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell of rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the greyhound over to the side of the highway.**"

"Okay, now this is starting to get good," Malfoy said.

"Yeah," Ron agreed.

"**After a few minutes clanging around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else. We were on a stretch of country road- no place you'd ever notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat was an old fashioned fruit stand.**"

"Oh, dear," Hermione said worriedly.

"**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of blood red cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw- foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**"

"Uh, oh," Elaina whispered.

Malfoy heard her. "What is it, Laine," he asked her. Elaina whispered something in his ear.

"Ooh, yeah them," Malfoy said after she was done.

What the bloody hell are you two talking about over there?" Ginny asked.

"Mind your business, Weaslette." Malfoy snapped.

"**I mean, these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric blue yarn.**"

_Fates!_ Elaina screamed inside her head.

"**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses. The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**"

"Whoa," Hannah whispered.

"Bloody Hell," Ron said.

"**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching. 'Grover?' I said. 'Hey, man-'**"

"**'Tell me they're not looking at you. They are aren't they?'**"

"**'Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?'**"

"**'Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all.'**"

Every student had frightened looks on their faces.

"**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors –gold and silver, long bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath. 'We're getting on the bus,' he told me. 'Come on.'**"

"**'What?' I said. 'It's a thousand degrees in there.'** **'Come on!' He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**"

"Good idea, mate," Ernie said.

"**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn and I swear I could hear that **_**snip**_** across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for- Sasquatch or Godzilla.**"

"**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared to life. The passengers cheered. 'Darn right,' yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. 'Everybody back on board!**"

The students started celebrating.

"**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu. Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**"

"I hope the poor kid didn't catch anything," said Cho.

"Yeah," Hermione agreed. "it's the start of the summer and if he got sick, it wouldn't be much fun."

"**'Grover?'**"

"**'Yeah?'**"

"**'What are you not telling me?'** **He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. 'Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?'**"

"**'You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like… Mrs. Dodds, are they?'**"

"**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, 'just tell me what you saw.'**"

"**'The middle one took out her scissors and she cut the yarn.' He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost- older.**"

"**He said, 'You saw her snip the cord?'**"

"Is that cord a symbol or something," Luna asked Elaina.

"Uh huh," Elaina replied.

"**'Yeah. So?' But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal. 'This is not happening' Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. 'I don't want this to be like the last time.'**"

"**'What last time?'**"

"**'Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth.'**"

_For me, it was before first year,_ Elaina thought.

"**'Grover,' I said, because he was really starting to scare me. 'What are you talking about?'**"

"**'Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me.' This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could. 'Is this like a superstition or something?' I asked. No answer.**"

"**'Grover- that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?' He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**"

"Whew," Cho sighed and put the book on her lap. "I'm finally done. Who wants to read next?"

"Me," Harry said. He grabbed the book out of Cho's outstretched hand and read, "Chapter 3…"

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**Review, please!**


	4. Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants

**Oh. My. Gods. You guys are amazing. As you're reward for giving me so many reviews, i give you chapter 4. Enjoy(:**

**Disclaimer: The stuff that's in bold is not mine. Any characters that you don't recognize i own.**

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Harry took the book from Cho and began to read, "**Chapter 3: Grover Unexpectedly Looses His Pants.**"

Everybody started cracking up, then Hermione explained to them, "In America, Pants to them is trousers to us."

"I already knew that, Mione but it just sounded wrong and funny at the same time," Harry said.

"**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**"

"That's not very nice," Hermione cried at the book.

"Well, Grover was scaring the living hell out of him so he must have had a reason to," Elaina said to her.

"Yeah," Hermione replied. "But still. I've been ditched plenty of times, and the feeling is not pleasant."

"I'm so sorry," Elaina said sympathetically.

"It's all right," Hermione said as Elaina gave her a hug, which Draco glared at her for.

"I'm just trying to be nice to her," she said quietly to Draco.

"Yeah, well you're hugging a Mudblood there, mate." He replied

"Whatever,"

"**I know, I know. It was rude. But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering, 'Why does this always happen?' and 'Why does it always have to be sixth grade?'**"

"What a creeper," Ernie said.

"**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we hot off the bus he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.**"

The students cracked up.

"**Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown. 'East One- hundred and fourth and first,' I told the driver.**"

"**A word about my mother before you meet her. Her name is Sally Jackson, and she's the best person in the world,**"

"Aw, how sweet of him to think of his mum like that," Hannah cooed.

"Yeah," Ginny said.

"**which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**"

"Oh God, wonder what happened," Malfoy sarcastically cooed.

"So rude," Elaina muttered.

"**Her own parents did in a plane crash when she was five,**"

Hermione was on the verge of tears.

"**And she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative writing program. Then, her uncle got cancer-**"

"Oh, the poor girl," Luna said.

"Don't you mean the uncle, Loony?" Malfoy asked.

"No, I mean that she has to live through this,"

"**-and she had to quit high school to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma. The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**"

"**I don't have any memory of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile. My mom doesn't like to talk about him, because it makes her sad. She has no pictures.**"

"I'm thinking that's his first memory," Ginny commented.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. 'I had this dream once that my mum and dad were playing something with me. I can't remember, but I'm thinking that's a memory as well."

"**See, they weren't married. She told me that he was rich and important, and they're relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back. Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**"

"Oh, poor Sally," Cho said.

"**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**"

_Most half- bloods aren't, _Elaina thought.

"**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano, who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his colors as a world- class jerk. When I was young, I nicknamed him Smelly Gabe.**"

The students roared with laughter.

"**I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts,**"

Everyone laughed again.

"How…is…it …possible…for…some…body… to…smell…like moldy….garlic?" Malfoy asked while laughing his arse off.

"I don't know, but that description was hilarious," Elaina said in barely one breath then continued to laugh again.

"**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her, the way he and I got along…well coming home is a good example.**"

"I don't think they get along very well," Luna said dreamily.

"Really," Malfoy said sarcastically. "I didn't realize. Thanks for pointing that out."

"You're welcome," Luna replied, while the others were trying to hide their giggles.

"**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN.**"

"What's ESPN?" Ron asked.

"A Muggle American television sports channel." Elaina explained.

"Do you remember what it stands for?"

"Not right now, but if I remember, I'll tell you."

"**Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet. Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, 'So, you're home.'**"

"That's it?" Hermione asked. "No welcome back and a hug or something?"

"Hey, I know how he feels," Harry said. "When I get back to the Dursleys, they just ignore me like I'm a piece of dog dung on the floor or something."

"And then you come over to my place for the rest of the summer," Ron added.

"That's the only part of summer I like," Harry said to him.

"**'Where's my mom?'**"

"**'Working,' he said. 'You got any cash?'**"

"Is he, like his personal bank or something," Malfoy asked.

"You're your own bank, Rich Boy," Ginny said while everyone laughed.

"Shut up, Weaslette. You don't even have a Gringotts vault," Malfoy retorted.

"**That was it. No **_**Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**_"

"**Gabe had put on weight. He looked a tuskless walrus in thrift store clothes.**"

Everyone had started sniggering.

"**He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**"

The students were roaring with laughter again.

"**He managed the Electronics Mega- Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before.**"

"That's because he doesn't want to get his lazy arse off the couch," Malfoy commented.

"Yeah, and that fat git doesn't want to go get some exercise either," Elaina added. After she said this, everyone laughed once again.

"Wow, Troy I never knew you had a big mouth," Ron said.

"It comes in handy when I really need to use it," she replied, smiling.

"**He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer. Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our 'guy secret'. Meaning that if I told mom, he would punch my lights out.**"

"That's abuse!" Hermione cried at the book.

"**'I don't have any cash,' I told him.**"

"Good job, Percy," Harry said. "Show the fat git whose boss."

"**He raised a greasy eyebrow. Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**"

"Someone needs a shower," Ginny stated.

"And a long one, by the sound of it," Ernie said.

"**'You took a taxi from the bus station,' he said. 'Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change? Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?'**"

"**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. 'Come on, Gabe,' he said. 'The kid just got here.'**"

"At least one of his mates cares," Ron said.

"**'Am I **_**right?**_**' Gabe repeated.**"

"**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels. The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**"

Some students chucked at this.

"**'Fine,' I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. 'I hope you lose.'**"

"**'Your report card came, brain boy!' he shouted after me. 'I wouldn't act so snooty.'**"

"I wouldn't give a rip!" Malfoy shouted.

"**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's 'study'. He didn't study anything in there except three old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on the windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**"

"Gross," Hannah said with a disgusted look on her face.

"**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds, or the sound of that fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**"

"**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak. I remembered Grover's look of panic- how I promised I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rose through me. I felt someone- something-was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons."**

"Someone's a little paranoid," Harry said.

_All demigods are,_ Elaina thought.

"**Then I heard my mom's voice. 'Percy?'** **She opened the door, and my fears melted.**"

"**My mother can make you feel good just by walking into the room. Her eyes sparkle and they change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old.**"

"She doesn't sound that old," Hannah said.

"Maybe about thirty six or something," Cho guessed.

"**When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad. I've never heard her raise her voice or say any unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe."**

"Aw, how sweet," Ginny said.

"**'Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. 'I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!'**"

"**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled and like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff that she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of 'free samples' the way she always did when I came home.**"

"Uh, this kid is making me want candy right now!" Ron said loudly.

"Why are you thinking about food at a time like this?" Hermione asked sternly.

"Well, Percy mentioned chocolate, and now I want a chocolate frog right now." Ron replied.

"**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything that I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right? I told her that she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**"

"**From the other room, Gabe yelled, 'Hey, Sally- how about some of that bean dip, huh?'**"

"He's ruder than Malfoy over here," Hermione commented.

"Mudblood," Malfoy said under his breath, and thankfully, Hermione didn't hear it.

"**I gritted my teeth. My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe. For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself. I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**"

"**Until that trip to the museum…**"

"So Yancy wasn't so bad after all?" Harry asked.

"I'm thinking he just said that to make himself feel better," Ginny said.

"**'What?' my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. 'Did something scare you?'**"

"**'No, Mom.'**"

"**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid.**"

_Your mother would understand_, Elaina thought.

"**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me. 'I have a surprise for you,' she said. 'We're going to the beach.'**"

"Oh, good," Padma said. "He needs a vacation."

"**My eyes widened. 'Montauk?'**"

"**'Three nights- same cabin.'**"

"**'When?'**"

"**She smiled. 'As soon as I get changed.' I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers because Gabe said there wasn't enough money. Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, 'Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?**"

"Git," Ron said.

"**I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**"

"The kid's possibly singing the Hallelujah Chorus in his head right now," Harry said.

The students laughed while Malfoy sang it mockingly, which Elaina found hilarious.

"**'I was on my way, honey,' she told Gabe. 'We were talking about the trip.'**"

"Why would she call Smelly Gabe 'Honey' if she doesn't love him?" Ron asked.

"Maybe she's forced to," Elaina answered.

"**Gabe's eyes got small. 'The trip? You mean you were serious about that?'**"

"**'I knew it,' I muttered. 'He won't let us go.'**"

"**'Of course he will,' my mom said evenly. 'Your stepfather is just worried about money. That's all. Besides,' she added, 'Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole, Sour cream, the works.'**"

"Now that dip sounds kind of disgusting," Ernie said.

"I really want to try that stuff," Ron said. He'll eat anything.

"Trust me," Elaina said convincingly. "You don't want to. It'll be the worst mistake you'll ever make."

"**Gabe softened a bit. 'So this money for your trip…it comes out of your clothes budget, right?'**"

"**'Yes, honey,' my mother said.**"

"**'And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back.'**"

"**'We'll be very careful.'**"

"Sure they will," Ron said sarcastically.

Hermione seemed to catch his sarcasm and slapped him in the chest.

"**Gabe scratched his double chin. 'Maybe if you hurry up with that seven-layer dip…And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game.'**"

"Oh, come on," Elaina complained. "Is it that important?"

"**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**"

Everyone burst out laughing.

"**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad. Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care about what he thought?**"

"**'I'm sorry,' I muttered. 'I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker came. Please go back to it right now.'**"

"Oh, honestly," Hermione muttered to no one.

"**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement. 'Yeah whatever,' he decided**. **He went back to his game.**"

"**'Thank you, Percy,' my mom said. 'Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about…whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay.'**"

"**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes-the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride-as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air. But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**"

"**An hour later we were ready to leave.**"

"He finally gets to get away from that bastard!" Ron cheered.

"I think this is the best summer of his life," Luna said.

"Damn straight!" Malfoy shouted.

"**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking-and more important- his '78 Camaro-for the whole weekend.**"

"Aw, does a wittle someone miss their cawr," Malfoy said like a baby while Elaina giggled to herself.

"**'Not a scratch on this car, brain boy,' he warned me as I loaded the last bag. 'Not one little scratch.'**"

"Someone's a little obsessed over tidiness," Ginny joked.

"**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**"

"How rude," Harry said. "That's exactly what happened to me at the Dursleys. If one of Dudley's big mates did something, I'd get blamed for it."

"**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something that I can't explain.**"

_That happens to every demigod,_ Elaina thought.

"**As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I saw Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding off gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe.**"

"Oh, no he didn't," Elaina said.

"Do you know that hand gesture, Laine?" Malfoy asked.

"Yeah, but I'll show you later." She concluded.

"Fine,"

"**The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the staircase as if he'd been shot from cannon.**"

The students laughed.

"**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out. I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**"

"Good idea," Hannah said.

"**Our rental cabin was on the south shore, way out on the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, and most of the time, the sea was too cold to swim in.**"

Draco knew that his parents would forbid him to stay in a place like that.

"**I loved the place. We'd been going here since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer. She never exactly said, but I knew the place was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**"

"Aw, how sweet," Padma cooed.

"Now I know why he loves that place so much," Elaina said to herself.

"**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea. **"

"**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and all the other free samples my mom brought from work.**"

"What's up with the blue food?" Ernie asked.

"I think he'll explain," Hannah assured him.

"**I guess I should explain the blue food.**"

"See," she said.

"**See, Gabe had once told my mom that there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop.**"

_Nice explanation,_ Ernie thought.

"**This-along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather calling herself Mrs. Ugliano-was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak like me.**"

"Now I see where he gets it from," Ron commented.

"**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.**"

"I can't believe that Percy can stand to listen to his mother drone on and on." Malfoy said.

"I can't believe you can stand to be around your mother in public," Harry teased. "Wonder what those Muggles say about her?"

"Don't insult my mother, Potter."

"Do you want me to get Professor Moody from Grimmauld place and have him turn you into a ferret again?" Hermione asked Malfoy sternly, while everyone died of laughter.

Malfoy was silent.

"I didn't think so."

"**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk-my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**"

"**'He was kind, Percy,' she said. "Tall, handsome and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes.'**"

"**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. 'I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud.' I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**"

"**'How old was I?' I asked. 'I mean…when he left?'**"

"**She watched the flames. 'He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin.'**"

"**'But…he knew me as a baby.'**"

"**'No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born.'**"

"Aw, poor Percy," Ginny said.

"**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember…something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**"

"**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now to be told that he'd never even seen me… I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**"

"The guy sounds like a big slimy git," Ron said.

"Weasley," Elaina snapped. "Show some respect."

"**'Are you going to send me away again?' I asked her. 'To another boarding school?'**"

"**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire. 'I don't know honey.' Her voice was heavy. 'I think…I think we'll have to do something.**"

"**'Because you don't want me around?' I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**"

"**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. 'Oh, Percy, no. I-I **_**have **_**to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away.'**"

"**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said-that it was best for me to leave Yancy. 'Because I'm not normal?' I said.**"

"It's not that bad being abnormal," Elaina commented.

"**'You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe.'**"

"Safe from what," Malfoy asked.

"**'Safe from what?'**"

The students sniggered.

"**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me-all the weird, scary things that had ever happened that I tried to forget.**"

"Brace yourselves, guys," Harry said.

"**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**"

"Whoa!" everyone yelled!

_Cyclops!_ Elaina thought.

"**Before that-a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into.**"

"Ergh," Hannah shrieked.

"**My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands. In every single school, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**"

"Bloody hell," Ron said.

"**I knew I should tell mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**"

_Tell her so you can get to Camp Half- Blood_, Elaina thought.

"**'I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could,' my mom said. 'They told me that was a mistake. But there's one other option, Percy-the place where your father wanted to send you. And I just…I just can't stand to do it.'**"

"**'My father wanted me to go to a special school?'**"

"**'Not a school,' she said softly. 'A summer camp.'**"

"**My head was spinning. Why would my dad-who hadn't even stayed long enough to see me born-talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**"

"**'I'm sorry, Percy,' she said, seeing the look in my eyes. 'But I can't talk about it. I-I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good.'**"

"**'For good? But if it's only a summer camp…'**"

"**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her antmore questions, she would start to cry."**

**"That night, I had a vivid dream."**

"Here we go again," Elaina said rolling her eyes.

"What do you mean?" Luna asked.

"Just listen. Continue, Potter."

"**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf. The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagle's wings. As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**"

"**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion. I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse' s wide eyes, and I screamed **_**No!**_** I woke with a start."**

"Oh, no they're fighting again!"

"Who's fighting?" Malfoy asked.

"**Outside, it really storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**"

"**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, 'Hurricane,'**"

"**I knew that was crazy. Long island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end. Then, a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice-someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**"

"**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock. Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain.**"

"What the ruddy hell does he think he's doing?" Malfoy screamed angrily at the book.

"**'Searching all night,' he gasped. 'What were you thinking?' my mother looked at me in terror-not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**"

"**'Percy,' she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. 'What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?'** **I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing."**

"**'**_**O Zeu kai alloi theoi!**_**' he yelled. 'It's right behind me! Didn't you yell her?'**"

"What did he say?" Ernie asked.

"**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I understood him perfectly. I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on-**"

The students laughed.

"**-and where his legs should be…where his legs should be…**"

"**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: '**_**Percy**_**. Tell me **_**now!**_'"

"**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning. She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, 'Get to the car. Both of you. **_**Go!**__'_"

"**Grover ran for the Camaro-but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shiny hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**"

"How?" everyone yelled.

"**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**"

"He's a goat?" Luna asked with a dumbstruck look on her face.

"Yeah." Hermione replied. "I think so."

"So, who wants to read now?" Harry held the book up.

"I will," Luna took the book and read, "Chapter 4…"

* * *

**Please review, and you'll make my day!**


	5. My Mother teaches me Bull Fighting

**Hey, i wont be able to update for at least a few weeks since i'll be up at christian camp for 1 and it takes me another to write. so while your at it, check out my other stories.**

**disclaimer: the bold words are ricky's not mine**

* * *

"**My Mother Teaches Me Bull Fighting,**" Luna read.

"I want to know where she got lessons from," Ron commented.

**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas. **

"How could she see anything," Hermione wondered aloud.

"Night vision," Luna said dreamily.

"No one has night vision, Loony," Malfoy was getting annoyed with her. "That's something you find in Muggle comic books or whatever."

**Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants.**

Everyone chuckled while Hermione muttered, "Oh, honestly,"

**But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo-lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**

"Ergh," Cho shrieked.

**All I could think of to say was, "So, you and my mom…know each other?" **

"That is so awkward," Elaina said while dying of laughter.

"I know," Ron said in the same condition.

**Grover's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."**

**"Watching me?" **

**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."**

**"Um…what are you, exactly?"**

**"That doesn't matter right now."**

"It does, too," Ginny yelled.

"Jeez, Gin, keep it down," Ron said sternly.

**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best is a donkey-" **

**Grover let out a sharp, throaty "**_**Blaa-ha-ha**_**" **

The students laughed at Luna's bad goat impression.

**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**

**"Goat!" he cried.**

**"What?"**

**"I'm a goat from the waist down."**

**"You just said it didn't matter."**

"Well, I guess it does now," Hermione pointed out.

"_**Blaa-ha-ha**_"

The students laughed again.

"Is my goat impression really that funny?" Luna asked while laughing.

"Yes," everyone laughed.

**There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"**

**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like…Mr. Brunner's myths?"**

**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a **_**myth**_**, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**

_Yeah, were they?_ Elaina thought sarcastically.

**"So you **_**admit**_** there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**

**"Of course."**

**"Then why-"**

**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious.**

"It's true," Elaina said, matter-of-factly.

"How do you know this stuff?" Ron asked like Hermione was explaining how to cast the Curse of the Bogies.

"I'll tell you after we read the next chapter,"

"Fine," Ron decided to drop the subject.

**"We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are." **

**"Who I-wait a minute, what do you mean?"**

**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**

**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get to safety."**

**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**

_A monster_, Elaina thought.

**"Oh, nobody, much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**

"Grover!" Elaina yelled.

**"Grover!"**

Everyone laughed.

**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**

**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream.**

"Are you sure about that?" Malfoy asked with heavy sarcasm.

**I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**

**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on the white picket fences.**

**"Where are we going?" I asked.**

**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**

**"The place you didn't want me to go." **

**"Please, dear," my mother begged "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**

**"Because some old ladies cut some yarn,"**

"Those weren't old ladies!" Elaina yelled.

**"Those weren't old ladies," **

**"**See,"

**Grover said. "Those were the fates."**

"Ha! Told you so!"Elaina gloated in Draco's face.

"Oh, shut up," Malfoy said as he slapped her arm playfully.

**"Do you know what it means-the fact that they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to…when someone's about to die."**

**"Whoa. You said 'you'"**

**"No I didn't. I said 'someone'"**

**"You meant 'you' as in **_**me" **_

**"I meant **_**you**_** like 'someone'. Not you, **_**you**_**."**

"Huh?" Ron had a stupid look on his face, which Hermione laughed at.

**"Boys!" my mom said.**

Everyone laughed

**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she swerved to avoid-a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**

"**What was that?" I asked.**

"**We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**

**I didn't know where**_** there**_** was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, waiting for us to arrive. Outside, nothing but rain and darkness-the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me.**

"Oh, really now I'm sorry!" Elaina said in a mock sorrow voice.

**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner…and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling **_**boom**_**!, and our car exploded.**

The students had frightened looks on their faces. Hermione looked like she was going to cry.

**I remembered feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time. I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat, and said, "Ow."**

"**Percy!" my mom shouted.**

"**I'm okay…." **

**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's side doors were wedged in mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**

"I thought Smelly Gabe said 'Not a scratch'?" Malfoy recalled.

"Guess he's gonna pay for it then," Ron concluded.

**Lightning. That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!" **

**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!**

"Aw, how sweet," Hannah cooed.

**Then he groaned, "Food," and I knew there was hope.**

"**Percy," my mother said, "we have to…" her voice faltered. **

**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player.**

_Don't you mean Rugby?_ Hermione thought.

**He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**

**I swallowed hard. "Who is-"**

"**Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**

**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges at the hole in the roof, but the edges were sizzling and smoking. **

"**Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy-you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**

"_**What?"**_

_Thalia's tree, you idiot!_ Elaina screamed in her head.

**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw what she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**

"White House?" Ron asked.

"The place where the American ruler lives," Hermione clarified.

"**That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."**

"**Mom, you're coming too."**

**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**

"**No!" I shouted. "You **_**are**_** coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**

"**Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**

The students chuckled.

**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands-huge meaty hands-were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket.**

_Obviously_, Elaina thought.

**Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big for his head…was his head. And the points that looked like horns…**

"**He doesn't want **_**us**_**," my mother told me. He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line."**

"**But…"**

"**We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."**

**I got mad, then-mad at my mother, at Grover the Goat, at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**

**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**

"Don't you realize she can't _go_?" Hermione scolded at the book.

"Yeah," Elaina said. Mortals can't go past the barrier."

"Huh?" Harry looked at Elaina questioningly.

"**Keeping me near you? But-" **

**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill. He'd smelled us.**

**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter. The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us. **

**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**

Ron's teeth were chattering, which Hannah and Ernie laughed at.

**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right-it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat.**

"Gross!" Ginny yelped with a disgusted look on her face as if she'd smelled the stuff before.

**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest. The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**

"Good job, Percy!" Harry cheered.

"It sounds like you're cheering on my git of a brother there, mate." Ron said to Harry.

There was a silence between the two boys and then they cracked up while Luna read on.

**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**

"Uh-oh," Cho said.

**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down on the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it. **

**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**

"**Run, Percy!"she told me. "I can't go any further. Run!"**

Everyone in the room dared to not say anything until the chapter was finished.

**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**

"Poor Ms. Jackson," Hannah yelped.

**"Mom!"**

**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!" **

**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply…gone.**

Luna stopped reading and the students were deathly silent.

Hermione was crying, as well as Ginny. Elaina was trembling at the way the Minotaur had killed her best friend's mother.

"**No!"**

**Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs-the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**

**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**

**I couldn't allow that.**

"Of course you can't, Percy," Elaina half- yelled. "He's your protector."

"I thought Percy was supposed to protect Grover," Draco said.

"It's the other way around, mate." Elaina replied.

**I stripped off my rain jacket.**

**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**

A few chuckled.

**"Raaaarrrrr!" the monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**

**I had an idea-a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment. But it didn't happen like that. **

**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms about to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge. Time slowed down.**

_I hate it when that happens_, Elaina thought.

**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck. **

**How did I do that? I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**

**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**

"Come on, come on," Harry mumbled.

"Kill him, Percy!" Draco said.

"Hang on," Hermione cried.

**The monster shook himself around and buckled like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**

**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off. "Food!" Grover moaned.**

The students thought Grover yelling, "Food!" was still hilarious.

**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then-**_**snap! **_

Everyone was on the edge of their seat, literally.

**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. **

"That probably doesn't feel very nice," Ernie said.

"The kid must have a ginormous headache." Ron mumbled.

"What was that," Hermione asked with an angry look on her face.

"Nothing," Ron hated it when Hermione did this to him.

**When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife. The monster charged.**

**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up into his furry rip cage.**

**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate-not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart. The monster was gone.**

The students were cheering and high-fived each other in celebration.

"Yes, the monster's gone!" Harry raised a victory fist in the air.

"This day's just getting better and better," Draco said.

"I wouldn't say that," Elaina commented.

**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and filled with grief. I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, towards the lights of the farmhouse.**

_Come on, get to Chiron!_ Elaina thought.

**I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover- I wasn't going to let him go.**

**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's. **

Does Percy still fancy Annabeth? Elaina wondered to herself.

**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He must be the one. He must be."**

**"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."**

"I'm done," Luna announced. "Who wants to read next?"

"I will," Elaina volunteered. "After this I'll tell you I'm a demigod," she muttered to herself.

"Wait, what did you say?" Hermione asked.

"I said after this, I'll tell you that I'm a demigod." Elaina repeated.

Everyone looked at her in horror.

"My name is Elaina Artemis Troy, daughter of Apollo, god of music, poetry, medicine, and prophecy."

* * *

**Oh my gods, how will the kids take Elaina being a daughter of Apollo? I will update soon. review, please:)**


	6. I Play Pinochle With a Horse

**Hey guys thank you for those awesome reviews! And i'm so sorry i didn't get this chapter out. Reason 1: i've been on vacation for 2 weeks. 2: my computer had a bad virus in it. So i hope this was worth the wait. School started on the 10th so updates won't be as slow as this one or as fast as my other ones. So enjoy this one for now:)**

* * *

Chapter 6: I Play Pinochle With a Horse

Everyone was still in shock of what Elaina had just said.

"So…so…you're a-a-?" Ron stuttered.

"Demigod." Elaina said again. "Yep. ADHD, dyslexia and all."

"But how do you have such good grades?" Hermione wondered aloud, trying to figure this situation out.

"Dumbledore knew of my parentage and my situation, so he placed this charm on me that will keep my dyslexia from acting up. And he knew that I would attract monsters, and I was put in Slytherin because Crabbe and Goyle's bad odor would keep me safe for a while."

Everybody laughed.

"I knew their stink would come in handy someday," Ernie said through guffaws.

"And if you wanted to know, I really wanted to be in Gryffindor," Elaina continued.

"Can you start reading now?" Draco asked after the laughter died down.

"Sure," The blonde shrugged. Elaina opened the book and continued reading.

**I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.**

Some kids snickered.

**I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed****out again. I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered****popcorn, only it was pudding. The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she****scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.**

"Ergh," Cho exclaimed.

**When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"**

**I managed to croak, "What?" **

**She looked around, as if afraid someone would overhear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"**

"She sounds quite batty," Draco said twirling his finger around the side of his head.

Crabbe and Goyle gave out forced laughs.

**"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."**

**Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding. The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.**

Could've been a trick of the light," Ron said.

**A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. ****He had blue eyes— at least a dozen of them—on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his han**ds

Elaina shivered. Argus gave her the creeps.

**When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except****that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing****across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries. There was a****blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a****scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth****hurt. **

**On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw **

**and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.**

"I love maraschino cherries," Luna said dreamily.

"Hey, so do I," Ernie said as the two high fived.

The two talked over cherries for at least five minutes before Draco shut them up.

**My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.**

"Does this kid ever stop complaining?" Ginny whined.

"Careful," a familiar voice said.

**Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week. Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD. Just plain old Grover, Not the goat boy**.

Elaina snickered.

"What's so funny?" Hermione asked.

"Well at camp we have an inside joke on calling Grover Goat-boy, and it was quite hilarious," Elaina explained.

**So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And ... **

**"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."**

The drink, Harry thought.

**Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.**

"Ooh a mystery box. I love those," Luna said.

"Oh yeah I get it," Ginny said. "It's like Grover's playing the 'What's inside the mystery box?' game."

"Who's willing to bet that it's the horn?" Ginny asked everyone.

"I will," Malfoy volunteered. "Fifty Galleons."

**Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.**

"Hand it over rich boy," Ginny said to Draco as she held out her hand.

"Dammit you cheater!" Draco muttered while counting his money.

**"The Minotaur," I said.  
**

**"Um, Percy, it isn't a good idea—"**

**"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half -man, half bull." **

**Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"  
**

**"My mom. Is she really ..."**

Silence invaded the room.

He looked down.

**I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of **

**strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the **

**tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked **

**beautiful in the sunlight.**

**My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.**

**"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm—I'm the worst satyr in the world." **

**He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.**

"It's…it's…fake!" Cho exclaimed rather loudly.

"Well, satyrs do have to blend in with humans to find other half bloods, so of course they would need fake feet," Elaina exclaimed.

"But can't humans tell they're fake when they wear sandals or something?" Malfoy asked.

That's why they wear hi-tops," Elaina replied.

**"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.**

**Thunder rolled across the clear sky.**

The same thing happened after Elaina read the sentence.

"O…kay…"Elaina muttered to herself. "That was odd."

**As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, well, that settles it.**

**Grover was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head. But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light**.

**I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe? No. That would never****happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I'd do****something.**

**Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid—poor goat, satyr, whatever—looked as if he expected to be hit.  
I said, "It wasn't your fault."**

"Yeah," Ginny said with an angry looking face. "It was the stupid Minotaur."

"I thought Theseus killed that thing a million years ago." Harry commented.

"So did I, mate," Ron said.

"Ron, do you even read?" Hermione asked him.

Silence invaded the room.

"I guess not."

**"Yes, it was. I was supposed to**_**protect**_** you."**

"Say what now?" Ernie exclaimed.

**"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"  
**

**"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."**

"What does he mean by that?" Ginny wondered.

"He got fired, stupid," Malfoy said in a foul mood.

**"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.**

**"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here," He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to ****my ****lips.**

**I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies. And not just any cookies—my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.**

"What is that stuff?" Luna asked.

"Nectar," Elaina said like that was the most obvious thing in the world. "The drink of the gods. It could kill regular Muggles, but I don't know how it works on wizards."

**Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.**

"Oh and if Demigods drink too much of that stuff they'll die," Elaina added.

"Good to know," Hermione said with heavy sarcasm.

**"Was it good?" Grover asked.  
**

**I nodded.  
**

**"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.  
**

**"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."  
**

**His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered**.

**"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's homemade."**

"Good thing that we're reading this book in an American Accent," Draco said in thought. "Otherwise the American word for biscuits would've sounded really weird."

**He sighed. "And how do you feel?"**

"Possibly well enough to hit a bludger a million yards and right into Malfoy's face." Harry laughed.

Everyone else joined in, except for said Slytherin who was going red in the face and wanting to punch the life out of Potter right then and there.

**"****Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."**

**"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"  
**

**"What do you mean?"  
**

**He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, and set it back on the table.**

**"Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."**

**The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.**

"I thought it was a camp, not a farm," Ron said scratching his head.

"To mortals, who can't see through the Mist, the camp looks like a strawberry farm, so that's why there is a farmhouse there and that's where Mr. D our camp director lives." Elaina explained.

**My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I **

**held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go. **

**As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.**

**We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture—an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena—except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture—an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena—except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun. In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball. Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.**

"Winged horses?" Harry wondered. You mean like Pegasus?"

"Oh honestly Harry," Hermione muttered while shaking her head."

**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond- **

**haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to **

**them.**

**The man facing me was small, but porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair****so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels— what do you call****them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a****trailer park. He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's****poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my stepfather.**

Elaina sniggered at everyone's surprised faces at the description of Mr. D.

"Who's that?" Ron asked with a strange look on his face.

"You'll see…" Elaina held back a laugh.

**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me.**

"Uh huh," said a confused Hannah. "What does the D stand for?"

**"He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's****Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And****you already know Chiron..."**

"Chiron," Hermione muttered. "Sounds familiar…"

**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.**

**First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the **

**thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard. **

**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried**

"Oh I get it now!" Ron cried as he snapped his fingers. Mr. Brunner is the Chiron from the stories."

"How do you know that, Weasel?" Malfoy remarked. "I overhear from Granger that you don't read."

"Only if it's something that won't put me to sleep," Ron muttered so only Harry could hear.

**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B. **

**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**

"Pinochle?" Ron asked.

"A Muggle card game," Hermione answered with a sigh. "Like your favorite one, BS."

"I love that game," Draco said, eyes wide. "We're playing after this chapter in the library."

"Hey I want to play, too," Elaina exclaimed, as she joined in the conversation.

"All right, Malfoy," Ron said. "Two Slytherins against two Gryffindors for a game of BS."

"You're on," Draco shook Ron's hand. "Remind me to wash my hands later," Draco mumbled to Elaina.

**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and****heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now,****don't expect me to be glad to see you."**

"He's never glad to see new campers," Elaina explained.

"Why?" Hermione asked with a curious look.

"He's just like that. I'm sure the book will explain."

**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because if there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.**

Everyone snickered at that.

**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.**

"Hermione, I can see you being friends with Annabeth when we get to camp. She's really nice," Elaina said to Hermione. _And is a little bossy,_ she thought but didn't want to say it out loud.

"Okay," Hermione replied excitedly. "Just introduce me to her when we get there."

**She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to****health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him****in cabin eleven for now."**

"Why Cabin Eleven?" Luna asked.

"It's where the newcomers go," Elaina said.

**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron." **

**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image. They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight**.

"Ah, California girls…" Draco said with a sigh.

"You've been there?" Elaina asked.

"Yeah," Draco replied. "Father scheduled a meeting with the American Minister of Magic last year and he said to come to Fresno, California."

Elaina slapped his arm. "Why didn't you come visit me? I was visiting family there! We could've met up and had lunch!"

"Sorry I didn't know you were there," Draco pouted. Elaina stifled a giggle.

"There are some pretty girls there," Draco went back to daydreaming mode. "I was at a water park and some girls from a church youth group were practically all over me… except for this one girl who seemed to fancy me from afar. I went up and talked to her. She was a little on the modest side though. She showed me her fake British accent which was actually pretty impressive."

Elaina shook her head, wondering if she should believe this or not. _So it was you…_ she thought.

**She glanced at the Minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to ****say, you killed a Minotaur! Or Wow, you're so awesome! Or something like that. **

**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."**

Everyone laughed.

"Well that was unexpected," Cho said through one breath.

**Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.**

**"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"**

"Well obviously…" Harry muttered. "Why else would he be there?"

**"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex—Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron." **

**"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?" **

**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."  
**

**"Oh. Right. Sorry."**

"Yeah, you guys." Elaina said giving them advice. "You don't want to go around the camp saying all the names of the monsters like they're nothing important. Just be careful. If you use it wrong…well just be careful."

**"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."**

**"House call?" **

**"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course,****keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something****special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence. **

"Ooooooookaaaayyyyy…" Elaina said a little confused.

**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class**.

**"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked. **

**Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test." **

**"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"**

"Is this Mr. D person always this rude?" Hermione asked.

"Unless you count getting everyone's name wrong on purpose or trying to ruin a victorious moment…then yes."

**"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.  
**

**"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.  
**

**"I'm afraid not," I said.  
**

**"I'm afraid not, sir," he said.  
**

**"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.**

"Reason #1: He's a big fat git!" Elaina mouthed to herself.

**"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest **

**games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules.**

**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said. **

**"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun—Chiron—why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"**

"I said the same thing," Elaina said.

**Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."**

Everybody laughed after Draco said, "Awkward!"

**The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.**

"My God Grover for all the love of all that is good just quit if you bloody well want to!" Harry remarked with a slight shout.

**Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, I was his star student. He expected me to have the right answer. **

**"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'**

_Noooooo….. _Was the single thought of everyone in the room.

**"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her." **

**"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"**

"Really?" Harry remarked sarcastically.

**"What?" I asked.  
**

**He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did. **

"Oh good God," Hermione sighed as she shook her head**.**

**"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient." **

**"Orientation film?" I asked. **

**"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know"— he pointed to the horn in the shoe box—"that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods—the forces you call the Greek gods—are very much alive." **

**I stared at the others around the table. **

Everybody stared at Elaina, who was uncomfortable under the pressure.

"Well, they are, come on now!"

**I waited for somebody to yell, Not! But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points**.

**"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke **

**can?"**

Everybody sat in silence. Then burst out laughing.

**"Eh? Oh, all right." **

**Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully. **

**"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as God."**

There is, Elaina wanted to say, but her friends would call her weird.

**"Well, now," Chiron said. "God—capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical." **

**"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about—" **

**"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."  
**

**"Smaller?"**

"Yeah, how is it smaller?" Ernie wanted to know.

**"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."  
**

**"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."**

"Uh huh," Elaina muttered.

**And there it was again—distant thunder on a cloudless day.**

"Oh shut up," Elaina said to the book.

**"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."**

"Told you," Elaina said.

**"But they're stories," I said. "They're—myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. **

**They're what people believed before there was science." **

**"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"—I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody—"what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals—they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."**

"He really should keep his mouth shut," Harry said to Ron.

Thunder boomed across the sky.

"Don't," Elaina warned them.

"Sorry," Harry and Ron muttered in unison.

**I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as****if... he wasn't. It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully****minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut**.

"Good idea, Grover," Harry said. "Good idea.

**"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"**

**I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate. **

**"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said. **

**"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"**

"People could consider us a myth in a thousand years?" Luna asked.

"Yeah," Elaina replied. "Witches and Wizards could still exist, but Harry over here could be a myth.'

"Huh?" Harry was confused.

"You know your story of how you survived the killing curse, right?" Elaina explained.

"Yeah."

"Well, that could be a myth, too."

**My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."  
**

**"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."**

"Which one?" Ron wondered. "Ares, Hera…"

"UHHHH!" Elaina groaned. "You are so bloody thick!"

**Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."**

**"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe."**

**He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.**

"Um, you're not supposed to do that, Mr. D…" Elaina said to herself.

"He's not even here," Hermione said. "Wait a second. "Wine out of thin air… Dionysus!"

"What?" Draco asked stunned.

"The god of wine," Hermione explained.

**My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.**

"This is the best part," Elaina said excitedly.

**"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."  
Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.  
"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"  
More thunder.**

**Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game. **

**Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph **

**who had been declared off-limits."**

A few sniggers from the group.

**"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.**

The boys started to make strange alien noises.

**"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly!****Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time—well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay****away—the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a****better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely**** unfair."**

"He sounds like a six year old pouting," Luna remarked.

"Does he do that a lot?" Hannah asked.

"Complain like a three year old? Yes." Elaina answered.

**Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.**

"Because he is one," Ginny commented as everyone sniggered.

**"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."**

**"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is **

**Zeus, of course**."

**I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master. **

**"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine." **

**Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh?'"**

"Yes," everyone said.

**"Y-yes, Mr. D."**

**"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"**

Elaina let out a guffaw.

**"You're a god."  
**

**"Yes, child."  
**

**"A god. You."**

**He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that **

**would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.**

"Oh yeah I forgot to say something," Elaina began.

"What?" Cho asked.

"Don't make Mr. D mad." Elaina said getting to the point.

"Why?" Draco wondered.

"You don't want to know," she said shaking her head.

**"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.**

**"No. No, sir." **

**The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win." **

**"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me." **

**I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too. **

**"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."  
**

**Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."**

"Poor Grover," Hermione said. "I still hope he gets to be a Keeper.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. I'm sure he'll get another chance."

Elaina wanted to say, that was his second chance, but she thought that it would wait.

**Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."  
**

**He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.  
**

**"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.**

**Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates****his job. He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus.****" **

"Seriously, it's real?" Ernie was completely surprised at that.

"Uh huh. I don't know if Wizarding people are allowed to go up there but demigods can. Mortals can't."

**"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"**

**"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do." **

**"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in ****America****?"**

**"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West." **

"What's the-" Hannah began.

"Shut up!" Harry, Hermione and Draco yelled.

**"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract****concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of****years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are****tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilizations were****obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know—or as I hope you know, since****you passed my course—the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different****names, perhaps—Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on—but the same forces, the****same gods."**

**"And then they died."**

"No, you git! They're immortal!" Elaina was getting frustrated with book-Percy now.

` **"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not—and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either—America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."**

Everybody was having a hard time taking this in, but they started to talk all at once.

"They were in Germany-"

"How long were they in England-"

"Oh I get it now-"

"Prometheus is in Rockefeller Center-"

"The statue not the god-"

"He's a Titan not a god-"

"CAN WE MOVE ON NOW?" Hermione shouted over the noise.

The room fell silent.

"Thank you."

**It was all too much, especially the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's we, as if I were part of some club. **

**"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?"**

**Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.**

"Or is he?" Harry said to himself.

"Huh?' Ron was clueless.

**"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s'mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate." **

"I could use some chocolate right now, thanks, Troy."

"It wasn't me," Elaina said, trying to defend herself. "Blame Chiron!"

**And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.**

**I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk. **

**"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."**

"He's a horse?" Luna asked.

"A centaur, Luna," Elaina said. "Not like the ones in the forbidden forest. Well Chiron is like them but he's a load nicer."

"Can I read now?" Hermione begged.

"Sure." Elaina gave her the book, chuckling.

"What's so funny?" The bushy haired Gryffindor asked.

"Just read the chapter," Elaina giggled.

"Chapter Six…" Hermione began. Then she realized what the Slytherin was talking about and started giggling.


	7. I become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom

**Wow, 92 reviews! Oh my Gods thanks guys! here's a reward for y'all. Is this what you've been waiting for? I hope so. oh and BTW, can you guys help me get to the 110 review mark? If so, that would be awesome. God bless:)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the bold writings or the Harry Potter characters.**

* * *

Chapter 7:

**I become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom**

At this line, everyone laughed for a long time.

"I'd never thought I'd see the day when Hermione made a bathroom joke!" Ron said in one breath before laughing again.

"You guys will love this part," Elaina said after the kids calmed down.

"You were there?" Harry asked her.

"Yep," she replied. "Saw the whole thing and I get to hear the situation through Percy's eyes." _And not Clarisse's. _

**Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse, we had a nice tour, though I was****careful not to walk behind him.**

Some kids sniggered.

"I wonder why he doesn't want to walk behind him." Luna asked herself. That made the kids stifle laughter into their robe sleeves.

**I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day****Parade a few times, and, I'm sorry, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.**

Everyone was cracking up now

"Oh now I know why Percy ran up to Chiron's front side when he trotted too fast." Elaina realized.

**We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's him."**

"Give the kid a bloody break, why don't you?" Harry commented, knowing what it's like to have a famous reputation.

**Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of ****them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their ****bare shaggy hindquarters. I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.**

"Did he?" Ron asked Elaina.'

"Uh, No!" Elaina was wondering what was wrong with Weasley.

**I looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than I'd realized—four stories tall, sky blue****with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort**.

_When we go to the camp I'll tell my parents there's a mansion there. Then they'll let me go!_ Draco thought evilly. He hoped his little plan will be successful.

**I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on****top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable.****Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.**

**"What's up there?" I asked Chiron.**

"Yeah, what's up there?" Cho asked Elaina. She had been quiet the past few minutes.

"You'll find out," the Slytherin replied.

**He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."**

**"Somebody lives there?"**

"Not technically," Elaina muttered.

"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."

**I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.**

**"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."**

**We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe. **

**Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."**

**He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was****around. It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those, so they****grew strawberries instead.**

"How crazy did they get?" Hermione asked Elaina.

"Very." Elaina stated simply, hoping that would please her.

**I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire. I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music. I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.**

"Poor Grover," Luna said with sympathy. "He did a good job getting Percy into camp, so he should get a second chance."

"Um…" Elaina began to tell the tale of Thalia, daughter of Zeus getting escorted to camp by Grover along with Annabeth and Luke, but she would let the book explain. "Never mind. Go on, Granger."

**"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really." **

**Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horses back like a saddle. **

**"Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable. To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill." **

"But he did that, didn't he?" Ginny asked.

**"****But he did that!"**

**"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the****Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success.****After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother.****And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The****council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."**

"Council…."

"The Council of Cloven Elders." Elaina said. "Heads of the Satyrs."

"Oh,"

**I wanted to protest. None of what happened was Grover's fault. I also felt really, really guilty. If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble.**

**"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"**

"Didn't Loony ask that a while ago?" Draco realized.

"Oh yeah," Cho recalled. "I remember now."

**Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that was Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago. Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age...**

"There's the Loon's answer," Draco said.

"Don't you dare call her Loony, Mr. Richey- Rich.

**"How old is he?"  
**

**"Oh, twenty-eight."**

"The hell…."

"I have no clue,"

**"What! And he's in sixth grade?"**

"A twenty-eight year-old satyr can blend in with first years?" Harry wondered aloud. "How is that even humanly possible?"

"No idea…" Ginny assured.

**"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years**."

"Oh how horrible," Luna said with worry.

**"That's horrible."**

**"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and****not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps****now he will find some other career..."**

**"That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"**

"Yeah, Troy, what happened the first time?" Ron asked with a pushy tone.

"It's a very long story," Elaina said, wanting him to drop the subject.

**Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"**

"Thank you," Ron said to the book.

Elaina groaned.

**But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop.**

Elaina groaned again.

**Something had occurred to me when Chiron talked about my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word death. The beginnings of an idea—a tiny, hopeful fire—started forming in my mind.**

**"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."**

"Please don't mention the Underworld, please don't mention the Underworld…." Elaina pleated to herself.

"**Yes, child?"**

**"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"**

"Gods, dammit!" Elaina slapped her left fist into her right palm while leaning backwards.

**Chiron's expression darkened.  
**

**"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go****after death. But for now ... until we know more . . . I would urge you to put that out of your mind."**

**"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"  
**

**"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."**

**As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.**

"Is that true?" Draco asked.

"Yep," Elaina said. "It's always been like that."

**Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."**

"Stalked with what? Armed with what?" Ginny was getting curious now.

**"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?"**

"Seriously, Weaselette you've got to stop doing that," Draco remarked after everybody chuckled.

"**You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night. Do you have your own sword and shield?"**

"What kind of a camp would let kids have their own swords and shields?" Hermione asked in a worried tone.

"This one," Elaina said. "You need them for our weekly game of Capture the Flag on Friday nights."

**"My own—?"**

**"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later." **

"An Armory?" Luna asked. "I've always wanted to go to one of those."

**I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armory, but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much), the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheater, and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.**

"Cool, a Javelin range," Ron commented.

"Is that the first place you're going to when we get to the camp?" Harry asked his best friend.

"What do you think, mate? You know I've always wanted to try javelin throwing ever since Fred and George discovered it."

**"Sword and spear fights?" I asked.**

**"Cabin challenges and all that," he explained. "Not lethal. Usually. Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall." **

**Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.**

"What do they do when it rains?" Ernie wondered.

**"What do you do when it rains?" I asked.**

**Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird. "We still have to eat, don't we?" I decided to drop the subject.**

"Good idea," Hannah said.

**Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them, nestled in the woods by the****lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they****were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen.**

**Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side,****evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a****tiny factory. Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass. Seven****seemed to be made of solid gold, which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible****to look at. They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek****statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed).**

"Okay, which cabins are which, Laine?" Draco asked.

"The one with tomato vines and grass on the roof is Demeter. The one that looks like a small factory is Hephaestus. "The golden one, which is my cabin, is Apollo." Elaina explained.

"That's three out of twelve," Hermione said.

**In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined fire pit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.**

Hestia, Elaina thought. Goddess of the hearth and home.

**The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums, big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them. Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks****.**

"Zeus and Hera?" Hermione guessed without looking at the book.

"Uh huh," Elaina answered.

**"Correct," Chiron said.  
**

**"Their cabins look empty."**

**"Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."**

Everyone laughed.

"That's a weird rhyme," Cho commented.

"And a little random," Ginny added.

**Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot. Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty?**

**I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.**

"Here we go," Elaina sighed.

**It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of****rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight****from the bottom of the ocean floor. I peeked inside the open doorway and Chiron said, "Oh, I****wouldn't do that!"**

"Why?" Cho asked.

"That's the Poseidon cabin." Elaina explained. "It was just an honorary cabin before…"

"Before what…" Harry wanted to know.

"Never mind."

**Before he could pull me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down. But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there. The place felt so sad and lonely, I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Come along, Percy."**

**Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.**

**Number five was bright red—a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with****buckets and fists.**

"It really was," Elaina said.

"Really," Ernie asked wryly.

"Uh huh. Five years ago, when I first came to the camp, the Ares cabin was in worse shape than it was described just now. So the Ares kids decided to repaint the cabin and literally splashed it with red paint and to make sure it was secure, they put barbed wire on the roof so no one could get in at night to pull pranks on them."

**The roof was lined with barbed wire.**

"See," Elaina said.

**A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the****doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me.**

"I hate that thing,"

**Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids,****both girls and boys, arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The****loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-****shirt under a camouflage jacket. She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. She reminded****me of Nancy Bobofit, though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking, and her hair****was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.**

Everyone laughed at the description of Clarisse La Rue.

"I thought the biggest shirt size was an extra large," Draco laughed.

"Nope," Harry said, calming down. "My cousin Dudley wears a Quadruple extra large."

"Damn," was Draco's reply.

**I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed.**

"**No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."**

**"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..." **

**He smiled down at me."The Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am." **

**"But, shouldn't you be dead?" **

"That's rude," Hermione scolded the book.

**Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about ****should**** be. The****truth is, I ****can't**** be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I****loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. I gained much from that****wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."  
**

**I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.**

"That's got to suck,"Draco commented. "Putting up with weirdo kids for three millennia."

"Chiron actually doesn't mind," Elaina said. "He has a few favorites, like my sister, Annaliese Riddle."

"Why is she Chiron's favorite?" Draco asked. Annaliese Riddle…he liked that name.

"Well," Elaina began. "She can hit the bull's eye every stinking time in archery class and she has a perfect singing voice, never hits wrong notes, her hair's always clean…she makes me sick."

"Riddle," Harry said. "Isn't that Voldemort's last name?"

"It's a very common British name." Elaina said.

"She's British?" Draco asked his friend. "Accent and everything?"

"Yeah. She's also dad's favorite, too because he loved her mother."

**"Doesn't it ever get boring?"  
**

**"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."**

"Why depressing?" Harry wondered.

"Possibly because the kids don't do stuff right, I assume." Hermione guessed.

**"Why depressing?"  
**

**Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.**

"Does he always do that when he wants to avoid a subject?" Ernie asked Elaina.

"Most of the time," Elaina replied.

**"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."**

**The blond girl I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.**

**When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled.**

Everybody laughed.

"Nice, Annabeth, nice," Ron commented.

**I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought my dyslexia****was acting up. Then I realized the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to me. I****mean, literally Greek. There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns,****like those in an architecture book.**

**"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"**

"Is your sister in master's archery?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, I'm in expert," Elaina said sadly.

**"Yes, sir."**

**"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."**

**Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on old. The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it... ?**

"A caduceus," Hermione said, as if it was pretty obvious.

**A caduceus.**

**Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds**

"Oh wow," Hannah said surprised.

**Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.**

**Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him.**

Harry and Ron snickered.

**But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.**

**"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."  
**

**He galloped away toward the archery range.**

**I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids.**

"Awkward silence," Ernie said. Elaina and Hannah giggled. Hermione shook her head.

**They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew this routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools****.**

"Uh, I hate it when people do that," Harry groaned.

**"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."**

"This is gonna be good," Ron said rubbing his palms together.

**So naturally I tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of myself.**

The students cracked up.

"Lesson number 1:" Elaina started. "Don't make a fool of yourself on your first day of camp. You'll end up getting a bad rep for the first couple of days. It's _not_ cool."

**There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.**

**Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven.**

**"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.**

"Undetermined?" Luna asked.

"When you first go into cabin eleven, some kid always wants to know if you are a son or daughter of Hermes or not. If not, then you are Undetermined. And that means that your godly parent hasn't claimed you yet." Elaina said with a tone of annoyance, getting tired of explaining things.

**I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."  
**

**Everybody groaned.**

**A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."**

Elaina shivered at the mention of Luke. She couldn't believe what he'd done this past year. Poor Annabeth, she thought.

**The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short- cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile.**

Ginny was fanning her face with her hand. "Oh my god, he sounds hot!" Elaina held back a laugh.

Harry gave her a stern look.

"What?" she stopped fanning her face.

**He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.**

**"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different somehow.**

"Aw does wittle Annabeth fancy Wuke?" Draco said in mock baby talk.

Hannah couldn't help it, she started giggling.

**I glanced over and****could've sworn she was blushing. She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's****your counselor for now."**

**"For now?" I asked.**

**"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in,****so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our****patron, is the god of travelers."**

"Is that where we're going to stay when we get to camp?" Luna asked. She has a little problem with too many people in a small space.

"No," Elaina said. "Chiron's going to have the campers build cabins for the four Houses and you'll be staying in there."

**I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as****my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. I thought about setting****that down, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves.**

"So we should be careful as to where we put our stuff?" Cho wondered.

"Yeah." Elaina said. "The Hermes kids can steal stuff easily. So hide your valuables in places they won't think to look.

"Good to know," Hermione said with sarcasm.

**I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.**

**"How long will I be here?" I asked.**

**"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."**

How long will that take?" Ron asked

Elaina laughed.

**"How long will that take?"**

The students laughed.

**The campers all laughed.**

**"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court."  
**

**"I've already seen it."  
**

**"Come on." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me. When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that." **

**"What?" **

**She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."**

Ginny started singing "He Could Be the One" by Hannah Montana, which the girls cracked up at.

**"What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy—"**

**"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"  
**

**"To get killed?"  
**

**"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"  
**

**I shook my head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was the Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."  
**

**"Yes."  
**

**"Then there's only one."**

**"Yes." **

**"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."  
**

**"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."  
**

**"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."**

"Yeah, good to know," Draco remarked sarcastically.

**"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually, they re-form." **

**I thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword—" **

**"The Fur ... I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."  
**

**"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"  
**

**"You talk in your sleep."**

"Hey Harry have you ever had a conversation with someone in their sleep?" Ron asked his friend.

"Yeah," Harry answered. "Once with Dudley and another time with Neville. It was hilarious. Neville was telling me about the time when he rode on a broomstick before he came to Hogwarts and his gran got mad at him and stuff. The one with Dudley..." Harry paused trying to remember. "I think it was asking him if I could go watch television in his second bedroom and he was like, 'Sure,' and I watched a Phineas and Ferb marathon all night."

**"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"**

**Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her. **

**"You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all." **

**"Look, is there anything we ****can**** say without it thundering?**

"Thank you," Elaina said.

**I sounded whiny, even to myself,****but right then I didn't care. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so****crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."**

**I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent." **

**She stared at me, waiting for me to get it. **

**"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said. "She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to." **

**"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad." **

**"He's dead. I never knew him." **

"Your father's not dead, Percy," Elaina said to the book.

**Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids. "Your father's not dead, Percy." **

**"How can you say that? You know him?"**

"How could she?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Harry said.

**"Because I know ****you.**** You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."  
**

**"You don't know anything about me."  
**

**"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."  
**

**"How—"  
**

**"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."**

**I tried to swallow my embarrassment. "What does that have to do with anything?"**

"Yeah," Luna said. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Elaina shook her head.

**"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you ****alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your****senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of****them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."**

The students were a little confused.

"So," Draco said to Elaina, trying to figure this out. "Your ADHD keeps you alive in battles and dyslexia makes your brain hardwired for Ancient Greek?'

"Uh huh," she said.

"Then how come you were able to read the book so easily?"

"Because I can read anything in Greek."

"Oh that makes sense,"

**"You sound like ... you went through the same thing?"**

**"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar." **

**"Ambrosia and nectar." **

**"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood." **

**A half-blood.**

**I was reeling with so many questions I didn't know where to start. **

**Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!" **

Elaina groaned.

"What?" Ernie asked, wondering she was groaning about.

"I hate her,"

"Who?"

**I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin was sauntering toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.**

"Who is she?" Draco asked.

"You'll see." Elaina replied.

**"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"  
**

**"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."**

**''Erre es korakas!" Annabeth said, which I somehow understood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded. "You don't stand a chance." **

**"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat. She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"**

**"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "Meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."  
**

**I blinked. "Like ... the war god?"**

"Don't make the Ares kids mad," Elaina pointed out.

"Why?" Ginny asked.

"Believe me. Just believe me."

**Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"  
**

**"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell."**

Everyone laughed.

**Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."**

"Why can't they just leave the poor kid alone?" Hermione said.

Elaina started to giggle.

"Laughing again, eh Troy?" Ron said with sarcasm.

"You'll get why this chapter is called 'I Become Supreme Lord of The Bathroom' in just a minute." The Slytherin said.

"Didn't you say you were there?" Ernie recalled.

"Yeah," Elaina said. "I was pulling a prank with Connor and Travis Stoll, sons of Hermes, when we almost got caught and hid in a nearby tree and saw the whole thing. We almost died of laughter."

**"Percy." **

**"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."  
**

**"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.  
**

**"Stay out of it, wise girl."**

**Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and I didn't really want her help. I was the**

**new kid. I had to earn my own rep.**

"Good luck with that, mate," Harry said.

**I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse****had me by the neck and was dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately****was the bathroom.**

**I was kicking and punching. I'd been in plenty of fights before, but this big girl Clarisse had hands like iron. She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking—as much as I could think with Clarisse ripping my hair out—that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier johns.**

Everyone was pretty much dying of laughter now.

"Why's Clarisse bringing him in the bathroom?" Ernie wondered.

Elaina was still laughing recalling the "ceremony".

**Clarisse's friends were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there.**

**"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."**

"Big Three?"

"The eldest gods. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."

**Her friends snickered.**

**Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.**

"This is where it gets entertaining," Elaina said.

"How?" Cho asked.

"Just listen."

**Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl.**

"Ick!" Hannah exclaimed. "She's going to stick his head in the toilet?"

"I guess…" Ernie said.

**It****reeked like rusted pipes and, well, like what goes into toilets.**

Everyone cracked up.

"Disgusting," Hermione muttered.

**I strained to keep my head up. I was****looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.**

**Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach. I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over my head, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind me.**

**I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so****hard it pushed her down onto her butt.**

"Nice," Ginny commented while giggling.

**The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose,****pushing her backward into a shower stall.**

**She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her. But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away.**

"Eww," Hannah said.

**As soon as they were out the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started. **

**The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared. She was dripping wet, but she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock. **

**I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes. Nothing. **

**I stood up, my legs shaky.**

"What was that?" Harry asked.

"That was cool," Draco said.

"I know," Ginny agreed.

"Can he do it again?" Luna asked.

**Annabeth said, "How did you ..."  
**

**"I don't know."**

**We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead." **

**I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."**

"He should close his mouth," Ginny commented.

**Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.**

**Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her. **

**"What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?" **

**"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."**

"Ah, there we go," Hermione said, closing the book. "Were done with the chapter. Who wants to read next?"

"I'll do it!" Ginny volunteered. Hermione handed her friend the book and read, "Chapter 7…"

* * *

I would just like to say that the 100th reviewer of this story will get a preview of this story. So get writing if you want to read what is in store for the next chappie:)


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